With its Scandinavian branding and style, the Saab 9-5 is the alternative choice in the mid-sized luxury saloon segment. At the same time, its technology means this is the most sophisticated and technically advanced Saab ever produced. All these should add up to a very promising future.

——

“Lawsuit against Saab for unpaid rent” is a headline in E24 today. Hopefully people in Sweden will read the full story below the headline.

A landlord is claiming what he/she/it believes is unpaid rent. Saab have only paid 25% of the original rent agreed when they first leased the property. Saab believe that the amount they’ve paid is correct because of the ‘composition’ agreement they made last year with creditors during their restructuring process. This agreement wrote down 75% of debts owing to creditors.

No need for panic. Each party has an argument to make and the court will decide.

The article is a review of the 2010 model. Why publish a review of the 2010 model when the 2011 is very much available?

As mentioned, the article is quite fair and makes for some very good reading. I just don’t understand why they’ve done it the way they’ve done it.

A suggestion has been made to me that they might have taken a review published previously by sister publication, Edmunds.com, and added some 2011 context to it. I don’t know, but it seems unlikely to me. All I know is it seems strange.

——

10 stupid publications that will disappear in 2011.

That’s the headline of an article I’d write if I had both the time and the inclination. #1 on the list would be DailyFinance.com.

Look, no-one thinks the road ahead for Saab will be easy, but basing your judgment of their survival purely on 2010 sales in the US, with no other context provided, is just stoooopid.

Glad you brought up the stooooopid top 10 list. I check every morning for Saab news and came accross this and thought, what the hell??? You read their little text to the reasoning and think, wow, my five year old daughter could have written that crap. I guess we could all be journalist, because they seem to print anything.

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

Frank A

I don’t know if there are many 2011 9-5’s available for review. They may have opted for the 2010 since that was what was available. I thought it was a fair review.

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

MitchbSC

“US pesos”. 🙂

Sounds like the email conversation I just had with my fishing cottage operator in Ontario after the USD took a dive while my deposit cheque was enroute to satisfy a Canadian dollar deposit.

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

100%Saab

“Saab USA”, is that code for GM? Sometimes it’s nice to have a good laugh. There was some mistaken reporting recently about Steve Job’s medical leave. My comment to my wife was “Swade needed.”

“The fact that Saab aren’t American to start with, and that Saab USA is no longer an existing entity seems to have passed them by.” Well said.

Just a thought.

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

Patrik B

Well, if Saab USA no longer exist then there predictions were correct. Case closed!

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

100%Saab

Not much of a prediction. Sort of like predicting the outcome of the US Civil War. Or, predicting your age for this year if you have already had your birthday. Maybe it should be called renaming. US Saab sales are not going away, period.

Just a Fact.

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

Chris

Here is the problem with this kind of stuff. It keeps on making the rounds and gets repeated and re-printed. It becomes an urban legend. Case in point, for years hack writers would print the same cars for” best cars to own” for appreciation over the next ten years. The TR8 was always on the list, even though it never did appreciate. On the over hand the TR7 always makes the list for one of the 10 worst cars ever made. Still does in fact, even though 92% of the car is made up of the same parts as the… Read more »

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

Allan

In my professional opinion, the Daily Finance list has some merit. I do agree that some of those companies will not be around at the end of 2011. However, I tend to agree with Chris. The fact that it appears and reappears can be a negative. When I see SAAB placed in print/context as such, it makes me want to do all that I can to ensure that we prove the writer wrong—-turn the negative into a positive. We do indeed have a complicated, yet achievable, road ahead.

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

Henke

Chris, I agree! Its just to many bad press stories now. Like the lawsuite! They are potentiak customers but will of course never buy SAAB after this kind of management by SAAB! SAAB management are to slow commenting and slamming back!

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

Patrik B

In this case the debts relates to rent that are for the period <b<after the reconstruction was closed. So I say Saab is wrong in this case and that is their own fault that they are getting some bad press. Very sloppy!

Consider that Saab is right; this means that all subcontractors from now on only will get 25 % of the money on the invoice. If this were the case I think that all parties should have voted to put Saab into bankruptcy instead of reconstructing the business.

Saab’s argument will be that the 75% reduction applies to all contracts in place at the time of reconstruction. Hence the contracted amount of rent should be reduced by 75%.

The landlord is seeing things the way you’re seeing them.

The court will decide who’s right.

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

andha

This wasnt a good move by SAAB, i think the law is quite clear in this case and SAAB will most likely loose in court. Making such a risky move also draws bad press by default which makes it even harder to understand in the first place. This is the one time you couldnt blame the infamous swedish press for pressing on the negatives concerning SAAB. My real concern is that SAABs decision is made becuase of a shaky cash flow situation… Hopefully not!!

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

Johan

I agree with you!! Bad move from SAAB MGM

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

Phoenix

You don’t know the reasons behind this. It might be an error and it might not. Please let us skip judgment on this site based on media articles because we don’t have the whole picture.

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

tal

My response to that schlock “Daily Finance” aol article: “There’s no room in the American market for tiny operator like Saab.” Yeah, people who pass themselves off as “business experts” have been saying that since 1949. Check the history http://www.swedecar.com/saab_history.htm. My prediction is that uninformed and thinly disguised “blogger experts” like DOUGLAS MCINTYRE are more likely to disappear, lets see who last longer. To the issue of SAAB advertising, why in the he** aren’t they (SAAB advertising dept.) driving home SAAB’s heritage virtues like the following: first with production turbo, first with anchored floor mats (Lexas/ Toyota need to copy… Read more »

How rich must a Danish Saab buyer be to afford those cars? Is it lease cars with tax reduction witch make it “salable”. Otherwise it´s only rich people that can buy almost any car midsize and up?

Can a middle class family afford a new car in Danmark, what does it take? Just curious!

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

x

Danes are rich!

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

Carlo

I think SAAB USA wil exist as long as SAAB will exist. SAAB cannot afford to get out of the American market, it is too important to its overall objectives. The only situation that could undermine SAAB in the US is if dealers started to leave the brand ….

Joe, very interesting table, would be even more insightful if you also indicate how much is due to taxes, import duties. Saab is concentrating its efforts on 3 markets: Sweden, US, UK. Those seem to be the markets with the lowest margins. But: In most of the European countries, noone will buy a gasoline car. Better to offer a 6-cylinder diesel, to raise margins.

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

x

From what I heard is that many cars sold in Denmark are the cheapest in Europe if you look at the price excluding tax. Car companies have to keep prices down to be able to sell any cars at all since taxes are so high.

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

Grumpy

And thus all car buyers in Europe support the Danish tax system. Unfortunately there is no way back for the danes. If tyhey would lower the tax to the level of Germany or Sweden since those two have the same VAT, used cars would be impossible to sell. Otherwise I am all for a unified tax on cars across the EU and a unified pre-tax price. Why car manufacturers bend over backwards to sell cars in Denmark or Greece or other small car markets is beyond me but as long as the Germans pay the highes prices in Europe before… Read more »

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

RS

Joe, do have a similar comparison for the base model (160 TiD manual), with budget Vector seats? PS. The Aero V6 prices in Europe are ‘starting at’. If you want premium leather for example you have to pay AN ADDITIONAL $4.000! How crazy is that…

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

RS

Joe, do you have… Geez I’m getting even more dyslexic. Sorry.

Swade, would it be possible have a preview feature on SU? *wink*

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

michaelb

After having read the inside line test, the test results are excellent for handling, braking, smoothness. To be really top notch, an upgrade of interior materials, a better gearbox and a manual would help a lot. But that car has an excellent base to become top notch.

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

Argosy

BMW has just announced a new 2.0 liter 4 cylinder twin-turbo gasoline engine!

245 hp, 350 Nm.

I’m guessing this is also headed into future SAABs!

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6 years 8 months ago

Guest

Neil

“By the way, their article is headed “10 American Companies That Will Disappear in 2011″ and the first of the American companies listed is “Saab USA”.

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